The present invention relates to disk drives, and more particularly, to a disk drive which is applied to a disk of, for example, the so-called MD (minidisk) or the like including a recording and/or reproducing medium encased in a disk cartridge and is provided for recording information on the medium or reproducing the information recorded on the medium.
As a disk drive to be applied to a disk of, for example, the so-called MD (minidisk) or the like including a recording and/or reproducing medium encased in a disk cartridge, there has conventionally been generally known a disk drive provided with a recording and reproducing unit for recording information on the recording and/or reproducing medium encased in a disk cartridge or reproducing the information recorded on the medium, a holder for guiding and holding the disk cartridge that is being inserted, a transfer member capable of transferring the disk cartridge between a mounting and dismounting position where the disk cartridge can be mounted on and dismounted from the holder and an insertion completed position with respect to the holder and a drive mechanism capable of driving the transfer member. For example, the prior art references of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-267124, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-102118, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-171765 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-180625 and so on disclose the detailed constructions of such a disk drive.
When inserting the disk cartridge into the holder of the disk drive, there is the possibility that the user might erroneously insert the cartridge backward 180 degrees different from the correct direction or upside down. In this case, the disk cartridge is being inserted with the same width of insertion in the incorrect direction.
In order to prevent the occurrence of such erroneous insertion, it can be considered to provide in a fixed style the holder with a stopper for preventing the insertion of the cartridge when the disk cartridge is being inserted with the same width of insertion in the incorrect direction.
As is well known, the disk cartridge is provided with a groove that has a specified length extending from the end surface on the inserting side in the direction of insertion and is provided on a side portion along the direction of insertion. By providing a projection (stopper) to be slidably fitted in the above groove on, for example, a guide portion of a holder corresponding to the specified side portion along the direction in which the disk cartridge is inserted when the disk cartridge is being inserted in the correct direction, the cartridge is allowed to advance to the fully inserted position when the disk cartridge is being inserted in the correct direction, and the cartridge can be prevented from advancing when the cartridge is being erroneously inserted in the direction that is 180 degrees different from the correct direction.
The above groove is provided on both side portions of the cartridge in the direction in which the cartridge is inserted, and the grooves are positioned not in the center position in the direction of thickness of the cartridge but in an upwardly offset position in the state in which the cartridge is inserted in the correct direction.
That is, if the cartridge is being erroneously inserted backward, then the cartridge is to be inserted with its end surface side provided with neither of the above grooves directed forward. Therefore, the stopper provided on the guide portion of the holder interferes with the cartridge end surface and/or the side portion provided with no groove, thereby preventing the cartridge from further advancing.
If the cartridge is being erroneously inserted upside down, then the stopper and the grooves are not aligned with each other in the thickness direction of the cartridge. Therefore, the stopper also interferes with the cartridge end surface and/or the side portion, thereby preventing the cartridge from further advancing.
If the cartridge is being inserted in the correct direction, then the stopper freely slides within the groove of the side portion of the cartridge, so that the cartridge is smoothly inserted without interference with the stopper.
When the cartridge is inserted by a certain stroke from the insertion entrance of the holder in the correct direction by the user's manual operation, a switch for operating a drive mechanism capable of driving the transfer member is turned on, and the further transfer stroke of the cartridge is automatically made by the drive mechanism.
In this case, the shorter the manual insertion stroke of the cartridge is and the longer the automatic transfer stroke of the drive mechanism is, the user is allowed to easily perform the inserting/ejecting operation.
If the erroneous insertion as described above occurs, then it is preferable to prevent the further advancing of the cartridge into the disk drive in the earliest possible stage of insertion of the cartridge (i.e., as close as the insertion entrance of the holder) in terms of preventing the damage to the cartridge and the disk drive by the forced inserting/ejecting operation of the cartridge.
However, the above stopper for preventing the erroneous insertion of the cartridge has conventionally been provided fixed on the holder. Therefore, the stopper cannot help being provided in a relatively deeper portion with respect to the insertion entrance of the holder (for example, a portion located apart from the insertion entrance of the holder by a distance corresponding to the length of the remaining portion of the side portion of the cartridge except for the groove portion) in order to assure the total stroke extending from the mounting and dismounting position to the fully inserted position of the disk cartridge. This means that preventing the cartridge from being inserted in the early stage of insertion of the cartridge (near the insertion entrance of the holder) is impossible.
The cartridge is to be inserted manually by a user to the deep portion where this stopper is provided. Conversely, when ejecting the inserted cartridge, the user is also required to manually eject the cartridge from the deep portion where the stopper is provided. The above has led to the drawback that the automatic transfer stroke achieved by the drive mechanism becomes very short, resulting in a lack of convenience.